Family Ties
by Samanthabreathes
Summary: Jeremy finds himself musing over his parents' relationship and makes a few life decisions of his own along the way. Future-fic; Jeremy-centric.


**Disclaimer: I do not own TVD, or anything TVD related, at all, ever, sadly.**

_Summary:_ Jeremy finds himself musing over his parents' relationship and makes a few life decisions of his own along the way.

Pairing: Elena/Elijah

A/N: At the bottom.

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They sat across the room from one another. Her in the love seat; her body curled in to herself, a blanket draped casually over her legs, used for comfort rather than warmth. Him in his chair; his legs crossed at the knee, fingers folded, resting under his chin.

Neither one of them moved their gazes from one another.

She stared with narrowed eyes, occasionally blinking but never losing eye contact. He watched her, lips pursed in amusement, his stare just as intense as it ever was.

Thats how Jeremy found them when he came home from his classes at the university. Staring at one another without a single word or shift in movement. He wondered if he was supposed to be bothered by the fact that they were once again having one of their wordless arguments, or the fact that he had become so accustomed to their ways of communication that it longer worried him when they slipped into antagonizing bouts of silence.

Dropping his bag off in the mud room, he shuffled back through the house and popped open a soda. "Hey," he called into the living room while scourging the fridge for something quick to eat, "I'm gonna go out tonight with the guys, okay?"

Both of their heads turned simultaneously and Jeremy paused, moving his own back slowly to glance around in confusion. He expected the eerie sound of the Twilight Zone theme to come crackling through the radio.

"Don't be out too late."

"Be safe."

Jeremy pulled out what he needed to make a sandwich, shaking his head in amusement at the both of them.

They had slipped into the role of his parental figures over the years with such great ease. Even when Jenna was alive, Elena had always been bordering on the mothering role, so the change hadn't been anything warranting notice.

It had been Elijah's easy transition into the role of his father figure that had snuck up on all of them.

Jeremy never realized how much he had come to depend on the older vampire's calm and stable presence in his day to day routine. When Elijah left - only for a few days at a time, a week at most - for business or to take care of a 'problem', his absence was startling obvious, almost achingly so.

It was strange, Jeremy realized as he smeared an obscene amount of mustard onto his sandwich, how he was being raised by the very things he had once blamed for the destruction of his life.

Two vampires watching over their supernatural kid.

Irony in its purest form.

"What's up with that face?" and she was up, walking out of the room without a glance back to where Elijah was triumphantly smirking in his chair. She rolled her eyes in exasperation, a shared look between the siblings that Elijah remained naive of, before pulling out a plate for herself.

"Just thinking about how things have changed, thats all."

Elena hummed thoughtfully, "Never thought your future would end up like this, huh?"

"What? You mean most kids aren't parented by the oldest, most deadliest vampire in the world," Elijah chuckled from the living room, "and their doppleganger turned vampire sister? Not to mention the frequent visits by vampire in-laws, vampire friends and witches alike?"

"Oh, no, I'm pretty sure thats the standard for most families." Elena nudged him playfully with her elbow, "that and their zombie puppy."

"Right, gotta get us one of those."

"One dog is enough for this household," Elijah had slipped into the room unnoticed by the two siblings. He enjoyed watching them; their dynamic was impeccable and observing it change, from a sibling tolerance to something resembling parental respect, had been remarkable.

Jeremy lifted his plate up towards Elijah in a silent question that was dismissed by a shake of the head and a thankful smile.

He had picked up a few habits from Elijah over the years; his ability to silently observe without seeming nosy, or intruding, had been one of those habits. As he finished up his three-layer sandwich, he watched them now with interest.

Elena was flicking through the mail, occasionally taking bites of her own sandwich while Elijah leaned up against the counter, entranced by just her calm, domestic actions.

Every so often she would make an offhand comment to him, handing him either a bite of her sandwich or a piece of mail. Eventually, as Jeremy knew he would, Elijah pushed off the counter and moved to encircle his arms around Elena's waist, his chin coming to rest upon her shoulder.

As they stood there, reading through their neighborhood paper, Jeremy still found himself moved by just how _normal_ they were - all three of them. To the untainted eye, it wouldn't be Elijah, the Original who played others to get what he wanted and killed without hesitation, and Elena, the former doppleganger who had taken Fate into her own hands and upset the balance of nature.

Instead they were simply a man and a woman - a husband and wife, if you dared (only their family and friends did)- sitting around enjoying a lazy afternoon with their teenaged son.

They weren't an overly affectionate couple either, not that Jeremy could see Elijah being as lovey-dovey as Stefan had been with Elena years ago; it just wasn't in his nature.

This type of affection, the casual intimacy, was saved for moments when it was just the two, or three, of them together at home. When they were out in public it was Elena's arm that was threaded through Elijah's or the occasional hand-holding. Even at the neighborhood parties, or small events they held at their home, there wasn't an over abundance of affection.

It was the simplest of touches: Elena's hand resting on his arm, Elijah's cupping her elbow, or resting on the small of her back, that defined them.

The most common way to find them was with Elena at Elijah's side, or vice-versa. She'd turn into him, curving against his side in a way that fit perfectly and reassured Jeremy that Elijah had been made for his sister. Elijah would play with her hair absentmindedly or drape his arm over her shoulders, locking her against him. It never came off as cuddly, or intimate, just natural. Almost...

Instinctual.

His sister's place was by Elijah's side; she may not be his equal in the vampiric sense but one would never make the assumption that she was anything less.

Elena had grown into a strong woman.

Jeremy had always looked up to her before, he saw the warrior inside of his sister and molded his own strength after hers. Now, when looking at her, he could barely see the indecisive teenager from Mystic Falls who was torn between two brothers and trapped in a world of terror. She was stronger, more sure of herself; she knew what she was capable of and just how to use her abilities to aid her.

Elena hadn't been the only one who had changed, Jeremy noted with a smirk as he polished off his sandwich and watched as Elijah nabbed second half of Elena's from her.

Gone was the cold, expressionless Original...

Well, not quite gone, Jeremy amended quickly. Elijah was capable of many things; he was still an Original, the mere mention of his name still caused fear to rise and vampires to scatter. However, the change in his everyday demeanor had come a full one-eighty. Elijah smiled more, he laughed easily, and carried a relaxed air about him.

He had adapted to domestic life with a sophisticated ease. His aristocratic tendencies were not lost to him, just placed on the back burner in favor of letting himself just be rather than forcing himself to remain statuesque and unfeeling.

His sister brought out the life in him, the humanity that Jeremy realized most vampires had locked away. Elijah needed his sister just as much as she needed him.

It was a strange comfort in knowing that they belonged together. In the "soul-mates", "forever and a day" sort of thing that Jeremy normally found himself gagging at. They were devoted to one another, undeniably so. He knew the lengths of which Elijah would take to keep Elena safe, and he knew just how strong-willed his sister became when Elijah was involved.

The two of them would destroy mountains for one another.

Thats what he wanted. He wanted what his parents had- all three sets of them.

The love that his mother had shared with his father had been an old love; a deep seeded love that had grown like a tree, rooted deep down into the very essence of what they were. Jenna and Alaric had been a tumultuous love; both of them had lost so much and never could fully express the words in which they felt, but their love was strong and lasted even in death.

Elena and Elijah's love transcended both quadrants of love. His love for her was deep, reminiscent of the old love that Jeremy's parents had while Elena's was new and scary, yet true to its forever form.

Their love was based off of strength, honor and trust.

Values that they had instilled into Jeremy.

When he found someone- and he knew he eventually would, even without Elena's constant reminding- he knew what he needed to look for. He knew what foundation he needed to have to grow his own kind of love, one that would last him his own sense of forever.

Jeremy wheezed suddenly, covering it up with a cough when Elena's head shot up in worry. He gestured towards the plate and then coughed some more, insinuating it had been the sandwich's fault.

Elijah knew better, however. His eyes flashed with hidden knowledge. Distracting Elena, he squeezed her a bit closer to his person, running his nose up her throat and nipping playfully at her chin.

Grateful for Elijah's distraction, Jeremy coughed up the blood that had lodged itself in his throat and balled it into his napkin. It was getting worse, day after day he became more and more fatigued. Playing baseball had become more of a trial for him and though he didn't want to quit the team so close to the end of the season, he wondered how long he could push himself to keep up appearances.

He was dying.

The ring that had been given to protect him was now slowly killing him. At first he had thought it was a simple cold, one that would pass in a few day's time. Elena had taken him to the doctor, her brows furrowed in worry over the change in his heartbeat. The doctor had agreed it was nothing more than the flu, gave him antibiotics and sent him home.

Only it had began to get worse. Jeremy started to cough up blood, he bruised easily, his skin was becoming paler and paler as the weeks went by. He had initially blamed the bags under his eyes on school, but now they were dark bruises that only made his face hollower.

Days like today were good days. Days where he could sit in the kitchen with his parents and enjoy their company without worrying about Elena noticing the changes in him.

It was strange how one day he would look completely normal and the next he was only a shadow of the boy he had been the day before.

Elijah had confronted him a few weeks prior when Elena was out visiting Caroline. He had known something was wrong, he had worried for days and nights, trying his best to keep his worry hidden from the women he loved. Finally, when he was alone with his son, Elijah looked straight at him and vowed to fix it.

They had met with one of Elijah's witches, who had explained that the ring saved him from supernatural death but with each death it saved it from, it only added to another imbalance in nature. This in turn caused nature to take matters into its own hands and kill him the natural, rather than supernatural, way.

Nothing the witch could do would fix it, not even Bonnie- who had flown in the next day with worry etched all over her features- could offer them any assistance.

He was the last of the Gilberts, and he was dying.

When they had been driving home after yet another meeting with yet another witch, Jeremy had weakly joked that perhaps he should have gotten someone pregnant in order to keep their linage going.

Elijah had regarded him with worry evident in his tone and asked him the question of the night: How did he plan on breaking the news to Elena?

He decided then and there that he wasn't going to tell his sister. Even now with his condition growing worse, he couldn't - wouldn't - tell her. She didn't need to worry over him, he wasn't planning on staying dead for long. If he did tell her, she'd try to change his mind, try to turn him away from the life he had sworn he'd never life.

She wouldn't understand that things had been different back then; he had been different. Their circumstances had been completely different and he had been in a constant world of worry and hurt. He was almost always losing someone he cared about, someone he loved. Now it was no longer a worry, now he was in a better, safer mindset and he knew just how he wanted to live out the rest of eternity: with his parents.

Drawing his attention back to said parents, he smiled at Elena when she glanced up from reading and caught him staring at her. Untangling herself from Elijah's hold, she blurred over to his side to press a kiss against his forehead, asking if he was finished.

At his nod, Elena picked up the plate and shot him an easy smile. Unknown to him and her partner, she was fully and completely aware of the bloodied tissue he held balled up in his fist. She said nothing to him, made no indication that she knew he was dying. He was like her in more ways than she would like to admit. So instead of hovering, she scurried off and busied herself with yet another mindless task.

Jeremy watched her do the dishes with a sad smile. No, he wouldn't stay dead for long. He had Elijah's word that when it came time, when he could no longer live as a human, he would be turned. It was his choice, his decision, his fate.

He was completely content with living the rest of his life with the two of them, even if they separated for periods of time, they would still be together.

Knowing Elena, she would call him a hundred times of day to check up on him. Elijah wouldn't be much better, this he also knew. But, he wouldn't complain. He would relish in how much they cared, in how much they all loved one another.

They were his family.

_Forever and always._

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A/N:  Because Jeremy is so very strong despite everything and I think he'd come a long way since Season 3's ending. He loves his sister and family is all he has and I just have a lot of feelings!

Thanks for reading lovelies :)


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